Corker: Defunding Obamacare is 'not in the cards'

Sen. Bob Corker, (R-TN), shares his views on the tactics some members of the GOP are using to defund Obamacare and what he'd like to see happen to achieve a compromise.

Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee said Wednesday he does not think the debate over ObamaCare will lead to a government shutdown, but one could still happen if Republicans and Democrats cannot come to an agreement on raising the debt ceiling.

In an interview on CNBC, he said that while he has no love for Obamacare, he does not agree with the tactics some Republicans, including Sen.Ted Cruz of Texas, are using in an attempt to derail it.

Cruz is trying to cut funding for the health care law and he and other opponents have been speaking nonstop the Senate floor. (Read more: Cruz ends 21-hour Obamacare speech)

Corker mocked the Ivy League-educated Cruz last week on Twitter, saying "I didn't go to Harvard or Princeton but I can count—the defunding box canyon is a tactic that will fail and weaken our position."

In the interview on CNBC's "Squawk Box," Corker said most House Republicans know by now that defunding Obamacare entirely is "not in the cards." He said legislators are beginning try to tackle its most problematic details that could lead to abuses, including a provision giving subsidies to "workers" without requiring any proof they are actually employed, and another that, in effect, allows people to delay paying for insurance until they get sick or injured.

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Another provision requires health insurance costs for seniors are no more than three times higher than for younger people. While intended to make health care more affordable for older retirees on limited incomes, the law may end up just raising rates on healthy, young people.

"So what you are seeing around the country is young, you know bulletproof, people who think they are healthy," Corker said. It's unlikely that many of them are going to sign up because of the cost, he added.

"I think everyone truly is concerned about how (Obamacare) is going to affect individuals and the economy and companies," Corker said, adding that employers are already shifting employees to part-time work or limiting their work-forces to steer clear of employer mandates.

Over the debt ceiling issue, Corker said Congress will likely "kick the can down the road" to stave off a shutdown in the short term. But he also said there is not enough serious discussion about the issue, and that the White House is not involved enough in trying to work out a deal.

"There is no strategy that I see, but again somehow or another in the end, in the final analysis, in the final hour, we'll figure out a way to solve these," he said.